I’m Silvia, I come from the beautiful yet somehow cranky city of Genoa, Italy.
I work for a bank and I’m a consultant for financial investments, and this *still* sounds weird to me when I say it. I’ve studied in pretty Bologna, a city I miss dearly. I’m married and happily so to one of the kindest souls I’ve ever met, Alfredo. We travel quite often, always torn between seeing places we already know we love and new places to fall in love with. We’re atheists, rationalists, completely LGBTQ friendly. We adore animals like we’re little kids, although sadly we can’t have any of our own. We’re more than a bit geeky.
We’re humans who live in Italy, but not quintessentially Italian. I actually think nationality shouldn’t matter at all so I see myself more as European or, even more simply, as a resident of this pretty blue planet.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Me and my hubby are the same age and both have steady jobs. We have a comfy life and a tiny, tight knit group of friends I’ve known literally for decades, so much we’re basically family. Cultural inbreeding, I sometimes call it jokingly.
It’s so easy to get comfortable in your routine and completely forget there’s a whole world of people out there we may find and like, that we may learn from, that could give us some new perspectives and knowledge. So yeah, this me taking a baby step out of the legendary comfort zone.

Interests

There’s hardly anything I may not get interested in at some point. Learning is my passion. I’m always looking for the next little spark that will ignite my new big interest. When my mind enters that fully engaged nearly obsessed state, it’s when I’m happiest. It could be about music, traveling, philosophy, food, astronomy, history, society or even the most trivial, humble topics you can think of.
My latest nerdiac interest is, oddly enough, fitness. I’m training ferociously. My previous one was World War I. So you get an idea of the width of the spectrum.

I’m quite active on Italian Quora, in case you’re interested.

• culture
• singing
• concerts
• lgbt rights
• fitness
• yoga
• politics
• movies
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• history
• philosophy
• language exchange
• budget travel
• friends
• friendship
• chilling
• nerdy stuff
• learning
• foodie
• exploring new places
• japan
• new experiences
• language learning
• finance
• quora
• netflix
• calisthenics
• meeting friends
• pop culture
• wikipedia
• rock'n'roll
• bodyweight training
• goofing around

Music, Movies, and Books

I‘m a classic rock nerd. Queen, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin are among my favorite things not only in music but in the whole world. I consider myself a fan only when I have some kind of encyclopedic knowledge of the band I’m into. I rarely have a healthy (i.e. not obsessive) approach to the topics I enjoy.
I also enjoy going to concerts, despite not loving big crowds in general. For years I’ve tried to get serious about learning guitar but I’m just not constant or patient enough. I do love singing though, it makes me quite happy if I’m somehow able to lose my usual shyness and just do it.

If I had to name ONE single book I truly love and I’ve been loving for almost 30 years that would be Stephen King’s It, although as of now I rarely read novels or fiction in general (but I have indeed been stuck at page 995 of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest for a while, shame on me).

My favorite movie, for sentimental reasons, is Velvet Goldmine but I actually devour movies and tv shows at an alarming rate (I think Cosmos is my favorite nonfiction thing that came out in these past few years).

I happen to share my home and my life with a massive comics/vg/rpg nerd. It rubs on you, eventually :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Nah, I would say I find everything I’ve done pretty credible.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can get completely enchanted looking at the night sky until I get teary. I can get mad like a little boy while playing World of Warcraft. I can have infinite conversations about the future of the universe. Or debate vigorously about where to eat next. I can listen to anyone’s problems and try my best to help, or we can get drunk silly and watch cat videos on YouTube for hours. All of this can happen in the same day. My range is quite big, no topics are off limits, no opinion too wild to at least discuss it.

What I Can Share with Hosts

We’re quiet, clean, respectful and polite.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, United States